California threatened with loss of funds if it doesn't use test scores in evaluating teachers

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has singled out as “ridiculous” California’s law dealing with the use of test scores in the evaluation of teachers.
California threatened with loss of funds if it doesn't use test scores in evaluating teachers
By Jason Felch and Jason Song
Education Week
July 24, 2009

California could lose out on millions of federal education dollars unless legislators change a law that prevents it from using student test scores to measure teachers' performance, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is expected to announce in a speech today.

California has among the worst records of any state in collecting and using data to evaluate teachers and schools.

Moreover, a 2006 law that created a teacher database explicitly prohibited the use of student test scores to hold teachers accountable on a statewide basis, although it did not mention local districts.

Only a few of the state's nearly 1,000 districts evaluate teachers by using their students' scores, though a dozen more are considering such moves, according to state officials. Los Angeles Unified, the state's largest, does not grade teachers based on student performance.

Data-driven school reform is a major focus of the Obama administration's education policies.

Duncan, who has repeatedly chastised states with similar laws, plans to withhold some economic stimulus money from those states, according to an advance text of his speech to be given today at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington.

Money from the administration's Race to the Top fund, about $4.35 billion, is intended to help states boost reform efforts at a time when most are facing severe budget cutbacks...